Empire Mall facts for kids
| Location | Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 43°30′38″N 96°46′33″W / 43.51058°N 96.77575°W |
| Opening date | 1975 |
| Developer | General Growth |
| Management | Dan Gies |
| Owner | Simon Property Group |
| No. of stores and services | 140 (in 2017) |
| No. of anchor tenants | 5 (3 open, 2 vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | 1,125,718 square feet (104,582.6 m2) |
| No. of floors | 1 |
The Empire Mall is a large shopping mall in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States. It is a popular place where many people go to shop and spend time. The main stores, called 'anchor stores,' are Macy's, Dick's Sporting Goods, and JCPenney. Two other big spaces used to be Younkers and Sears, but they are now empty. As of 2018, the mall is owned by a company called Simon Property Group.
The Mall's Story
How It Started
The Empire Mall first opened its doors in 1975. It was built by a company named General Growth. In 1985, the mall was sold to the IBM Pension Fund. However, General Growth continued to manage the property.
New Owners and Growth
In 1998, two companies, The Macerich Company and Simon Property Group, bought the mall together. Later, in 2012, Simon Property Group became the only owner. In 2018, Simon Property Group shared some plans for the mall's future. This happened after some of its biggest stores closed down.
The mall grew bigger just a few years after it opened. In 1978, a major expansion added a new large store called Dayton's. This store is now known as Macy's. They also added 22 other smaller specialty shops.
Changes in Stores
In 2018, two of the mall's large anchor stores closed.
- On April 18, 2018, it was announced that Younkers would close. Its parent company was going out of business. The Younkers store closed on August 29, 2018.
- On May 31, 2018, Sears also announced its closure. This was part of a plan to close many stores across the country. The Sears store closed in September 2018. For a short time, a temporary Camping World store used the empty Sears space.
There were plans for a store called Dillard's to open in the old Younkers space. This was announced on December 3, 2018. Dillard's planned to add more space to the existing building. However, by late 2019, there were no new updates on the Dillard's store opening.
